On Consistency of Upholding the Party's Mass Line with Developing Socialist Democracy

Article excerpt

Abstract

The Party's mass line is the Party's lifeline and the fundamental approach to its work; and the nature of socialist democracy is that the people are the masters. Upholding the Party's mass line and developing socialist democracy have a high degree of consistency in logic as well as in the methods and approaches of implementation. The Party's mass line fully embodies the fundamental requirement of socialist democracy and provides the epistemological and methodological basis for socialist democracy; the intensive activities throughout the Party to study and practice its mass line are a lively practice of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics.

Key words: The Communist Party of China; The mass line; Socialist democracy; Consistency

INTRODUCTION

The Party's mass line, as the Party's lifeline and the fundamental approach to its work, is formed and developed from the combination of Marxism Historical Materialism and the concrete practices of Chinese revolution, construction and reform; and it is the outcome of the integration of Marxist concept of the masses and epistemology with the actual practices of the Party's mass work. The essence and core of socialist democracy is that the people are the masters and people's democracy is life of socialism. Developing and realizing socialist democracy is an important goal of the Party in governing the country. Upholding the Party's mass line and developing socialist democracy are both specific ways to practice Marxist concept of the masses, and they have a high degree of consistency in logic as well as the methods and approaches to implementation. In keeping to the socialist path of making political advance with Chinese characteristics, we are facing a new topic of searching for the relationship between the practice of the Party's mass line and the pursuit of socialist democracy.

1. THE PARTY'S MASS LINE FULLY EMBODIES THE FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENT OF SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY

The essence of the Party's mass line is to put people's interests first, which is consistent with the core of socialist democracy that the people are the masters. Putting people's interests first means giving top priority to the interests of the people, serving the people, being responsible for the people, respecting and relying on the people. This is actually coherent with the ideas of "people's democracy" and that "the people are the masters" advocated by socialist democracy.

The key of that "the people are the masters" is whether it fully speaks to the willingness of the masses as the masters; whether it fully realizes the legal rights of the masses; and whether it fully safeguards the legal benefits of the masses. In search of the origin and evolution of the word "democracy", we can see that the importance of the "people" throughout the process. The word "democracy" comes from the "demokratia" in Greek, which is a new concept combined from the word "people" (demos) and the word "power" (kratos) and means "people's power" (Jia & Hao, 1993). After a long history of evolution, the connotation and denotation of the concept "democracy" have been constantly enriching and developing. But the values of "popular sovereignty", "majority rule" and "the people are the masters" are deposited and preserved, and they have been recognized and highly praised by countries of different systems. Countries with different state and political systems would distinguish in the understanding and definition of democracy; however, it is generally acknowledged that democracy is the weapon to protect the interests of the people. In the difficult exploration of the political road of socialist democracy, the Communist Party of China clearly recognized that what concerns the construction effectiveness of the socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics are how to fully speak to the willingness of the masses as the masters; how to fully realize the legal rights of the masses; and how to safeguard the legal benefits of the masses and it is the core problem to be faced and solved. …